Writing prompt Kindergarten English Language Arts
Feeding the Ducks at Gullyhorn Pond: An Opinion Prompt
A kindergarten opinion prompt asking whether kids should toss bread to the ducks at Gullyhorn Pond, with a picture organizer, an exemplar, and a four-level rubric.
Objectives
- Students will state a clear opinion about feeding bread to ducks at a pond.
- Students will give one reason drawn from the background material.
- Students will name one thing people could do instead of tossing bread.
Vocabulary
Key words: opinion, reason, sink, pellets
Teacher overview
Gullyhorn Pond is a fictional pond used for this prompt, and the question it puts to students is whether kids should toss bread to the ducks there. The choice is a real one at kindergarten level, since feeding ducks is a kind thing to do and the bread is real food, yet the bread that sinks uneaten changes the water the ducks live in. Read the background aloud, because kindergartners generally treat bread as harmless simply because it is food, and they do not consider that food left in water becomes waste in it. Students state an opinion, give one reason, and support both with a drawing, which is the earliest form of the claim-and-reason structure that argument writing builds toward later.
Plan for students to dictate most of their response while you scribe.
Prompt
Background: Gullyhorn Pond is a small pond in a park. It is a fictional pond used for this prompt. Ducks swim there all year. Kids like to toss bread to them.
Some of the bread does not get eaten. It sinks to the mud. Then it rots down there. The rotting bread feeds tiny green plants in the water. Too many of those plants turn the pond green and murky. The ducks and the fish live in that water.
The park has a new plan. A bin by the path now holds duck pellets. The pellets are made for ducks. The ducks eat them fast. Not much is left to sink.
Writing task: Should kids toss bread to the ducks at Gullyhorn Pond? Draw a picture. Tell or write your opinion. Give one reason for it. Then name one thing kids could bring instead.
Planning Organizer
Fill in your ideas before you draw and tell.
| Category | Your idea |
|---|---|
| My opinion, yes or no | |
| One reason | |
| A better plan | |
| A picture I will draw |
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Exemplar & Rubric
Exemplar response:
I think kids should not toss bread to the ducks at Gullyhorn Pond. The bread the ducks do not eat sinks down to the mud. It rots there and turns the pond green and murky. I do not want the pond to be green, because the ducks and the fish live in that water. The park has a bin of duck pellets by the path. I think kids should bring the pellets instead. Then the ducks still get fed and the pond stays clear.
Rubric:
| Criterion | Emerging | Developing | Proficient | Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opinion | No opinion is stated or drawn | Names bread or ducks without saying yes or no | States one clear opinion about tossing bread and holds to it | States one clear opinion and returns to it in a closing sentence |
| Reason | No reason is given | Gives a reason unrelated to the pond, such as liking ducks | Gives one reason drawn from the background, such as the bread sinking or the water turning green | Gives one reason and names what happens next, such as the fish living in that green water |
| A better plan | Nothing is offered instead | Says kids should stop, with nothing to replace it | Names the duck pellets or another safe choice from the background | Names the pellets and explains that the ducks still get fed |
| Picture and telling | Picture does not match the prompt | Picture shows the pond but not the opinion | Picture shows the pond and makes the student's opinion clear | Picture and dictated or written words together carry the opinion, the reason, and the better plan |
Differentiation
Support
Offer a spoken sentence frame for the task: "I think kids should ___ toss bread because ___." Let students fill each blank with a single word or by pointing to a picture, and complete the organizer by drawing a small symbol in each row rather than writing. Read the background a second time in three short chunks, pausing after each for a yes-or-no question.
Extension
Ask confident students to name one more animal that might eat the sunken bread at the bottom of the pond, and to add one sentence about what the murky water would be like for that animal. Invite them to turn their drawing into a small sign for the park path.
ELL supports
Pre-teach sink, rot, and murky with a demonstration: drop a bread crust into a clear jar of water, close the lid, and set it where students can see it but not handle it (check first for wheat allergies in the class), then look at the jar again after an hour and again the next day. Provide picture cards for the organizer rows so students can point rather than write, and accept a drawing alone for the reason row.
Extensions
Write one class letter to the park office, dictated together and signed by every student, telling them what the class decided about the bread and the pellets. Post a copy in the hallway beside the students' drawings so other classes can read the class opinion.